London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Stage star Simon Russell Beale has told of his surprise at what it takes to be a woman. The actor revealed that he had his legs sugared — as an alternative to waxing — in preparation for playing the camp drag artist Terri Dennis in Peter Nichols’s forces comedy Privates on Parade but was hoping to keep the hairiness in check without paying a second salon visit.

Living above a shop has traditionally been a cheap way to buy a property. But a four-bedroom flat above a tailor’s in Mount Street, Mayfair, has sold for £13 million — believed to be a record for such a property.